1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a backlight assembly and a liquid crystal display (LCD) device having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) device, displays an image using the optical and electrical characteristics of liquid crystals.
The LCD device comprises a liquid crystal control unit and a light supplying unit. The liquid crystal control unit controls the liquid crystals while the light supplying unit supplies the liquid crystal control unit with light. For example, the LCD device comprises a LCD panel as the liquid crystal control unit and a backlight assembly that serves as the light supplying unit. The backlight assembly comprises a light source that generates the light. The backlight assembly is classified as either an edge illumination type backlight assembly or a direct illumination type backlight assembly. The edge illumination type backlight assembly comprises a light-guide plate adjacent to a lamp to guide the light toward the LCD panel. The direct illumination type backlight assembly comprises a diffusion plate to diffuse the light generated from the lamp so that the diffused light is incident on the LCD panel.
A lamp socket, in general, affixes the lamp to the receiving container. The direct illumination type backlight assembly comprises a plurality of lamps aligned in the receiving container using an aligning plate to fix lamp sockets. For example, the lamp sockets are inserted into receiving holes, and the lamp sockets are fixed to the receiving container through the aligning plate.
When the backlight assembly comprises lamp sockets and the aligning plate to fix the lamps to the receiving container, the method of manufacturing of the LCD device is complicated. This is because in order to use lamp sockets and an aligning plate in the LCD device, a die and mold are used to manufacture lamp sockets and the aligning plate thereby increasing manufacturing costs. In addition, impurities flow into a space between the lamp sockets and the aligning plate. When the shape of the LCD device is changed, the location of the sockets and the shape of the aligning plate are also changed. Thus, the manufacturing costs and manufacturing time are increased.